Arthrosclerosis (Pusong Bato)

Reading through Exodus, we will encounter the idea of hardening of the heart. It’s not because of the food eaten but rather an intentional rejection of God. The question is…who hardened the heart, is it God or it is man?

But if we count the following verses…
Pharaoh being stubborn (Exodus 13:15) and refusing to humble himself (Exodus 10:3), that would be six verses for Pharaoh hardening his heart.

So does the Bible contradict itself?

The answer is NO.

Here’s why…

#1 Let us not forget that before “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”, Pharaoh already made the Israelites his slaves. He made them do hard work. He initiated genocide by killing male babies who are Hebrews. He mistreated the Israelites who did him no harm.

#2 The word “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” meant God allowed Pharaoh to be stubborn, to reject God. Pharaoh chose to be stubborn, God allowed him to go on his own way.

#3 Pharaoh had a choice but chose to reject God. In every plague, he would be stubborn instead of acknowledging God.

#4 God is not partial with his dealings with humans (Acts 10:34), He does not act unjustly (Psalms 33:5), and He has always allowed humans to exercise their free moral agency (Deuteronomy 30:19). God, however, does use the wrong, stubborn decisions committed by rebellious sinners to further His causes (Isaiah 10:5-11).

While the attention is on Pharaoh, the Israelites too, hardened their hearts against God. (See the following verses as reference Jeremiah 5:23, Hebrews 3:7-9, Zechariah 7:12, Ephesians 4:18) It is not just Pharaoh who hardened his heart, the nation of Israel never learned and chose to go against God.

So God chose to punish Pharaoh. As well as the Israelites.

Guess what…we can choose to harden our hearts too!

When we disobey our parents, that’s going against God’s command to honor them.

When we choose to cheat, that’s hardening our hearts against God’s command not to steal.

When we lie, we put God’s name in vain because we call ourselves Christians and carry His name.

And the list goes on.

It’s not just Pharaoh who had a heart problem. We can have it too. Don’t wait til the punishment comes before returning to God.